


Citrus and Summer Fruits

by teaandabiccie



Series: Kintsugi [2]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Crew as Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Omega Roronoa Zoro
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-10-17
Updated: 2020-10-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:07:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,602
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26807074
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teaandabiccie/pseuds/teaandabiccie
Summary: "I'm not sick. The wound's fine. It's just..." He shifted again in obvious discomfort, taking a long breath in through his nose, mouth tightly shut."Zoro?"He turned his head to look at her but couldn't hold her gaze, the expression on his face seemingly a mix of desperation, shame and something she'd never seen on him before: fear. Though they were practically whispered, his words weren't taken by the wind."I'm in heat."-In the aftermath of Arlong Park, Nami stumbles across Zoro's secret very, very literally.
Relationships: Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates & Mugiwara Kaizoku | Strawhat Pirates, Nami & Roronoa Zoro
Series: Kintsugi [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1944859
Comments: 12
Kudos: 109





	Citrus and Summer Fruits

**Author's Note:**

> This takes place in the same universe as Kintsukuroi but you don't need to read any of that fic to understand and enjoy this one.  
> Just some straw hat family bonding while poor Zoro suffers.
> 
> In two parts because this got LONG. I thought about cutting a lot of Nami's interaction with Zoro in the first section of this but then I wrote this largely for me to work on their dynamic and apparently that's where it started.
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

Nami stumbled on Zoro's secret entirely accidentally and very, very literally.

It was the night after leaving Cocoyashi village and after making sure that they were on course, she had excused herself early to sleep. Her excuse, which she hadn't even needed to give anybody, was that she was tired after all of the fighting and then all of the partying and of course, the stealing of every wallet she could. But really, she just needed the time to simply be.

Arlong Park was no more. Cocoyashi village was free. A pile of wallets had been swept under the desk and almost out of sight. The scent of Bellemere's tangerine trees lingered in the air wherever they went. Her awful tattoo had been replaced with a stylistic pinwheel that represented who she was, not what she had been forced to do. It was all over. She was free now to pursue her dream for herself, not for money. For her friends.

But she also needed to cry. Just a little.

Unfortunately, crying also resulted in dehydration and dehydration resulted in headaches and poor skin. Nami had excellent skin and intended to keep it that way. She was also on a crew with Luffy and Usopp. And while she cared for them both very much, they were also both very loud and filled with more energy than could be harnessed for good. So to keep her good looks and her sanity, Nami dragged herself out of bed at four in the morning and braved the brisk breeze of the deck to get some water.

She wasn't expecting to see anybody else. Luffy tended to sleep when Usopp did. Zoro would often stay up into the early hours keeping watch from the crow's nest but he didn't ever come down. She didn't know too much about Sanji but she imagined he was the sort of guy to be an early riser simply from his talk about breakfast. Either way, nobody would be around the communal area at this time of the night unless Luffy was trying to deplete their supplies in one large midnight feast again. From the lack of banging and clattering, she assumed that he wasn't doing that now.

She was expecting the light breeze that brushed against her face as she stepped outside. She was expecting it to bring with it the familiar, comforting scent of the tangerine trees and took a deep breath of the cool night air. Instead, it brought with it the sweet scent of summer fruits.

Nami froze. Did Sanji wake up earlier than she'd thought? Was he already preparing some sort of dessert for lunch? Wavering in the doorway, Nami weighed up the pros and cons of continuing.

Pros: she really needed a drink and whatever this was smelt like it was going to be delicious. If Sanji was making it then it was definitely going to be tasty. Her stomach growled in anticipation; she'd gone to bed early and it was technically morning now. It was only fair if that she wanted a snack. And she knew that with a simple, sweet calling of Sanji's name, he would offer to give her something without hesitation.

Cons: her face might still be a bit puffy and she didn't really want him (or anyone) to see.

But it was still dark. Maybe if she kept to the shadows, he wouldn't notice. Whatever it was smelt so incredibly inviting, she couldn't resist it. A warm blackberry pie was just the thing she needed to remind herself how good life could be now.

Mind made up, she traversed the stairs, realising only when she got to the top that there was no light spilling from the doorway, which meant no lights on in the room. Luffy, Zoro and Usopp all sleep talked on occasion. Did Sanji sleep cook? Luffy did have a knack for befriending people who were just a little bit odd.

Her next step had her tripping over something surprisingly solid. Something solid which groaned when she kicked it.

She squinted through the limited light. "...Zoro?"

"...Nami?" His voice was smaller than she was used to and slightly breathless.

"What are you doing sleeping out here?" she asked, something compelling her to speak a little more softly than she normally would.

Her eyes were beginning to adjust. His, which now blinked up at her, seemed unfocused. "Wasn't," he said.

A thin sheen of sweat on his forehead was highlighted by the light of the moon as it peeked out from behind a cloud. His face was darkened across his cheeks and the bridge of his nose, almost as though by a brush. As she watched him, a shiver rolled from his shoulders down his back. He hugged himself like his arms were keeping his body together.

He had arrived in Cocoyashi village having been sliced from shoulder to hip. He'd fought Hachi like that, and Arlong. Even before that, he'd been strung up as a prisoner and battled his guards after she had freed him. The doctor had patched him up, given him antibiotics and sent him on his way but he wasn't healed.

 _Shit,_ she thought. He had a fever. That probably meant there was an infection.

"Did you... pass out?" she asked him, knowing as soon as she said it that he wasn't going to say yes even if it was true.

"Nnn- no," said Zoro breathlessly. "I'm fine."

Nami knew there and then that he wasn't. "Can you get up?"

"Yeah."

She offered him her hand anyway. "Come on then. Let's go inside."

"Don't want to," he muttered.

"Why not?"

"'S cooler out here." He turned his head away from her and it lolled to the side like he wasn't entirely in control of it.

Nami pressed her hand to his forehead. It was scorching. Zoro pressed his face further into her hand as she retracted it, recoiling immediately once he realised her fingers had left him.

"Zoro, you have a fever. Come on, let's get you to bed."

"No!" His reaction was fast, almost desperate. "I don't want to. I'm fine here."

She watched the grip he had on the tops of his arms tighten. He brought his knees up to his chest. It was almost like he was getting ready to run. Not on her watch, he wasn't.

Putting on her best no-nonsense voice, Nami stood firm, her hands on her hips. "You're injured and you have a fever, idiot. I'm not going to leave you out here when it will only make you worse. You can get up and let me help you to bed or I can go in there and get Sanji-kun to help me move you."

At this Zoro almost flinched. For a moment all he did was breathe a bit too quickly and a bit too heavily. When he did speak it was almost a whine and it was nothing like the self-assured swordsman she knew. "Can't I just stay out here? I really don't want to go in there."

Nami raised an eyebrow, glancing down at the entrance to the men's room. "Why not?"

Zoro's legs were shaking. He looked pained. Nami wondered, as he took a couple of shaky breaths before answering, if she was going to have to get someone to help her move him anyway. He was definitely sick. He definitely couldn't be left outside.

"The others are in there," he said finally, so quietly she almost missed it.

"So?"

He squirmed uncomfortably, realising the grip he had on his torso to now hug his knees. He wasn't looking at her.

Nami sighed and sat down beside him, close enough that their bare arms touched. Even though his skin was almost blisteringly hot, Zoro still shuddered at her touch. She watched the tension increase in his shoulders and placed one of her hands on the nearest one, rubbing at it soothingly and eliciting a gasp from the swordsman.

"You got injured pretty badly, Zoro," she said softly. "Though I do sometimes doubt it, you _are_ only human. Your body's been through a lot in the short time we've been traveling together. You're allowed to be sick. Nobody will think any less of you."

"I'm not..." he panted. "I'm not sick, Nami."

She could feel his shoulder quivering under her hand. "Really? So you just naturally pass out in front of the kitchen while running a temperature high enough to cook eggs on you?"

He shot her a long look and it was the most normal part of their entire encounter. "I'm not that hot."

"I'd rate you a five, maybe a six if you weren't such an idiot," said Nami.

The withering look remained.

Nami continued, "But do enlighten me as to how you have an obvious fever but you're not sick - and if you tell me it's your wound, I'll save a special punch just for you because you know infections count as illness. And it will gain _interest_."

He dropped his chin into the gap between his knees, resolutely staring at the gap under the door to the kitchen and meeting room. A sour scent came to her on the breeze and Nami didn't feel quite so compelled to sample a slice of whatever dessert Sanji must have left to cool in there. She did still need a drink though. With a fever like this, Zoro could probably use one too.

"Go on," she prompted. "I'm waiting."

"I'm not sick. The wound's fine. It's just..." He shifted again in obvious discomfort, taking a long breath in through his nose, mouth tightly shut.

"Zoro?"

He turned his head to look at her but couldn't hold her gaze, the expression on his face seemingly a mix of desperation, shame and something she'd never seen on him before: fear. Though they were practically whispered, his words weren't taken by the wind.

"I'm in heat."

"Oh," said Nami. _Oh._

For a moment, she just stared into his flushed face. His hot, sweaty arm shivered against hers before he seemed to put a conscious effort into holding still - she could see it in the set of his jaw. Roronoa Zoro the pirate hunter, the first member of Luffy's crew, the crew she was now an official part of, that she had worked with for all this time... was an omega. It didn't make sense and yet it was suddenly so incredibly obvious that she didn't know how she hadn't noticed before. That enticing aroma from earlier had been her crewmate. Who was _in heat_.

As though she'd been burned, she jerked to the side, putting some space between them. The smell of sour fruit hung in the air around them, around _him_. This time, she recognised it for what it was: his scent that he was no longer in control of. Nami was a beta. She didn't have the sensitivity to scents that alphas and omegas had. But even without all of that, there was no mistaking the cocktail of negative emotion rolling off of him in waves.

Entirely unbidden, she wondered briefly what Zoro's scent was when he was normal, if he ever let anything slip.

 _'Zoro smells like home,_ ' she recalled Luffy telling her cheerfully from the tiny boat the two of them had first shared.

She betted he did. He was an omega. He was supposed to smell comforting and nice.

"Does Luffy know?"

Zoro gave a very deliberate shrug, taking in another long breath through his nose then out through his mouth. His shoulders shook as the breath was released.

Nami sighed, running her hand through her hair. "Come on," she said, standing and offering Zoro her hand. "Let's go to my room."

Zoro stiffened, wide eyes looking up at her. Then he scowled. "No."

Nami sighed again. It was far too early in the morning to be dealing with this. "So you're going to sit out here in the cold, drenched in your own sweat with a massive healing wound across your chest for the rest of the night and let Sanji fall over you in the morning."

For a moment, he actually seemed like he was considering it. "No. I was gonna ride it out in the crow's nest."

She raised an eyebrow. "Right, where everyone can see you and smell you and someone will still need to be on watch with you in there."

"Not if I sleep during the day and stay up all night."

"And you're going to be such a good lookout while you're in heat. Bad idea, even for you."

He narrowed his eyes, tucking his legs tighter into his body. "Well, where the hell else can I go?" He leaned his head back against the railing, another loose shudder rolling down his body. 

"My room," Nami repeated.

Again he stiffened, lifting his head to fix her with a sharp look. It reminded her of a cornered animal, like he might lash out if she touched him. She knew he wouldn't but respected his space all the same.

"No," he said again. The word broke, splitting into two syllables.

"Damn it, Zoro," Nami replied, harshness slipping into her tone, though her voice dropped to compensate. "Let me help you."

"No," he said, emphatically. "I don't need... I don't _want_ _help_."

She looked down at him, his arms wrapped around his legs like a barrier between them, fingers digging in to his own flesh, eyes glaring defiantly up at her despite the discomfort and uncertainty to the set of his shoulders. And suddenly it clicked.

She wanted to hit him for even daring to suggest she might be propositioning him but something told her that would be wrong here; that insinuation obviously came from experience. She wondered how many people had made this kind of offer to him. She wondered how many had taken his 'no' as an answer first time. An old anger started to rise within her but she swallowed it down.

"That's not..." she sighed again, looking over the railings to the sea. It was calm. The sky was beginning to lighten. The others would start to wake up soon. "When I say I want to help, I don't mean like _that_. I'm a female beta. I'm not scent sensitive. I don't have the _equipment_ your body is looking for. You're not even remotely my type, and didn't Luffy say we were nakama?"

The look in Zoro's eyes told her it wasn't quite enough. He didn't say anything. He was shivering again.

"Zoro," she said softly. "Mine is the only room that has a comfortable bed away from the others. You'll be able to use the bathroom without having to come up on deck. And it locks so we can make sure you get some privacy. I'm willing to loan it to you at a discounted price on account of you being _nakama_ and all so..."

She wiggled her fingers in front of his face. _Trust me?_

Zoro eyed her hand with uncertainty, his eyes coming up to meet hers. "Where would you sleep?"

Nami did not retract her hand. "We have several couches. I'll pick the comfiest one."

He held her gaze and she stared back resolutely. Then he gave a shaky sigh and got to his feet, ignoring her hand completely.

"Alright," he said without looking. "Let's go."

She led him to her room, waiting at the bottom of each set of steps without making it look like she was watching how he took them. Zoro followed obediently behind her. That in and of itself wasn't too unusual. But the footsteps behind her were not the footsteps she usually associated with him. They were cautious yet unsteady. Maybe it was the scent. Maybe she was more susceptible to omega discomfort than she thought she was. _Don't be stupid, Nami._ It was just basic human empathy for her friend. But she almost wanted to offer him her hand on that final set of steps down to her room and give it a comforting squeeze.

But that would injure his pride. And based on the hand held against his ribs and the sour scent swirling around him, that was suffering enough already. So she didn't.

Zoro stopped on the last step and swore.

"What?" said Nami.

"Sheets. Should've got sheets from the men's room."

She raised an eyebrow. "Do you need more than what's on the bed already?"

His face was already flushed but embarrassment was plain to see on his face as he bit the inside of his cheek, looking beyond her, to her bedding and away. "No, it's... If I'm gonna ruin sheets, they should be mine to ruin."

"Don't you guys all share blankets anyway?" Nami asked.

"You don't," he said, turning to place his foot on the step above and wavering there.

"Well, it's a good thing I've decided to share my entire room with you now. Sheets will wash and if they don't, you can buy me new ones. Consider it part of the price."

For a moment, he paused on the stairs, tension evident in the hard line of his shoulders. Then he turned back to her and with surprisingly little fight, replied, "Yeah, okay."

"Well, make yourself comfortable," she said, gesturing to the room behind her. "I'll just get some stuff and then I'll be out of your hair."

"Mm," said Zoro, still lingering on the stairs.

Nami watched him from the corner of her eye, heading over to her desk and making a show of looking like she was deciding what she needed on it and in it. He stood, still and silent, watching her without even the vaguest attempt to look like his wasn't. She might have protested that but the expression on his face betrayed uncertainty, like he was waiting for her to retract her offer.

When she didn't say anything more, he crossed the room on shaky legs and fell onto her bed with a low groan.

"Alright?" she asked in spite of herself. "Need me to get you anything?"

He lifted his head out of his arms just high enough to give her a questioning look. "I'm fine," he muttered.

"Well, I'll bring you some water anyway and I'll see if Sanji can make you some food that'll keep so you can pick at it, otherwise I'll have to come back every couple of hours to offer you something. That's a point - who do you want to deliver your meals?"

She paused in the act of rifling through her drawers to look behind her.

Zoro had rolled onto his side to face her, bringing his legs up like he hadn't quite committed to curling up in a ball but might want to. "No need," he said, expression pinched. "Don't normally eat."

"Why not?" Nami asked him.

He brought his shoulders up in a vague shrug. "Don't get that kind of hungry. Sometimes I have dried meat and stuff. Can't really go get anything in heat so..." He trailed off with a shiver, rubbing at his arms. The motion made him curl his legs up towards his body. He looked a lot younger like this. The sight and the sourness of his scent made Nami want to sit beside him and rub his back.

Instead, she said, "You didn't have anyone to bring you food and drink before?"

His entire body tensed. His response came too slowly, was enunciated too specifically. His expression was guarded. "No."

"Well you do now." He didn't look like he believed her. "Nakama take care of each other. And you need to take better care of yourself. Who would you prefer?"

"Nobody," he said quickly, too quickly. And sat up, watching her. Something about the look in his his eyes reminded her of a wary animal. Like in spite of everything, she hadn't earnt his tust. Maybe that was fair; she had deceived them all and stolen their ship. But that was behind them now and something told Nami that this didn't factor into his feelings at all.

She didn't like it.

"I'll do it then. And you'd better eat. Or I could get Luffy to come down and order you to eat. You wouldn't go against a captain's order, would you?"

"No," he said vehemently. It came out as almost a growl and that would have been normal if not for the wild look in his eyes, the panted breaths. " _No._ Not Luffy. _None_ of the others."

She only looked at him. "But I'm okay?"

He hesitated. A momentary pang of hurt ricocheted through her but she shrugged it off. That was fine. Heats made omegas vulnerable. Zoro didn't seem like the type who could handle vulnerable. He wouldn't be the first she'd had to help who flinched away from her presence. And he wasn't _actively_ flinching. There was some trust there. He was here after all. She could work with that.

She pulled out two different shirts and held one in each hand. "Which do you think for tomorrow?"

Confusion straightened the lines on his face. He didn't answer right away. "Does it matter? They're both fine," he said. His eyes said, _why are you asking me?_

"Of course it matters. I can't wear both at the same time," she replied with feigned impatience. "Which is better?"

This time, jaw set, he replied like it was a certainty: "Blue."

Personally, she felt more drawn to the green one but she set the blue one aside and put the green one back carefully in its place. "Great, see? You can make a decision," she teased.

"Shut up," he muttered, tipping back onto his side.

Some of the tension started to release from his shoulders. His eyelids fluttered, his eyes falling shut as another shudder rolled through him. She could smell the scent of heat, of _need_ , on him underneath all his discomfort and distress. She'd need to leave him alone soon, for the sake of both their comfort, but not just yet. Not until he was a little bit more comfortable with her presence. Not until the fruit smell emanating from him ripened and told her he was as alright as he could be given the state of his body.

So she held up two more articles of clothing. "Now which skirt: black or white?"

-

"Sanjiiii foooooood!" came the low whine from the captain.

A rubbery arm stretched out towards the meal that Sanji was trying to preserve and was kicked to the side with a little but more force than necessary. "Wait for Nami-san to arrive!" came the answering hiss from the cook, who tapped his feet with some impatience. "And where the hell is that stupid ball of moss?"

He wouldn't normally let it show. He wouldn't normally feel it. Nami had been through a lot on the last island and the beautiful young woman deserved the world - they could at least stretch to an extra hour in bed for her. However, the moss-haired idiot was missing too. Sure he was supposedly still injured, so maybe Sanji should cut him some slack as well. But he'd been perfectly healthy enough to join in on the partying and drink enough booze for a small army so he'd better have a better excuse than that when he did show up.

Finally, there was a vague scent of baked goods in the air - specifically some kind of dessert made with summer fruits, maybe blackberries, maybe raspberries, like a pie or a crumble. Sanji hadn't stocked any of those at Cocoyashi village. That meant someone had snuck them onto the ship and then indulged in midnight baking in his kitchen.

Alright, so it wasn't strictly _his_ kitchen. In fact, the others technically had more claim to it since Sanji was the newest crew member. And whoever it was had left behind no evidence of their activities, not even a utensil out of place. But it was the principle of the thing. Feeding the crew was Sanji's job.

And if it happened to have been Nami who had done it then he couldn't deny that she was well within her rights to do so. But she could have asked him to make it for her, any time. He could at least have helped.

"But I'm hungry _now_ and Nami and Zoro are busy," said Luffy.

He sat at the table, his chin resting on top of it. Knives and forks were strewn around him, having been used as sword fighting devices and impression aids while he and Usopp and waited for breakfast. The first half an hour of waiting had been loud but not unbearable. Usopp had kept Luffy somewhat entertained and as long as Sanji could keep the meal components cooking then they were less likely to be snatched. Luffy was a glutton but he did normally wait for the food to be cooked first.

Now, the cutlery had reached the limit of its entertainment value. So had Usopp's tales of seiges he had survived by apparently eating his own hair, since it grew back uncommonly fast. Luffy looked up at Sanji, appealing to him with eyes that were too large for a person of his age, dark and pleading. Like an abandoned puppy.

"Did Zoro fall asleep on watch?" asked Usopp. "Maybe we should go and get him."

Luffy shook his head, making the cutlery on the table clatter. "No, he's in Nami's room with her. They've been there for hours. I'm not allowed in anymore."

"What?" spluttered Sanji.

"Nami said it was because of heat. It started last night but Zoro only went in there a couple of hours ago. That's why it smells like pie. I don't think it smells like a real pie though."

"Heat?" echoed Sanji, eyes wide and mortified. "And Zoro went... after she already..."

Usopp took a very long and deep sniff. "I can't smell pie."

"Exactly, it's not a real pie. It's Zoro... I want pie now," said Luffy with a little pout.

 _"What happened last night?"_ asked Sanji. "How do you know all that?"

"I told you, Nami told me."

"When? How? Did she say anything else?"

"I woke up because of that smell and I followed it to her room and she wouldn't let me in." Luffy paused to think for a moment, eyes shifting upwards and to the side as he recounted the points of conversation on his fingers. "And yeah, actually, she said to tell you nobody's allowed in the room, but they're not anyway, and she's sorry we didn't get to sit down together and talk about what to do about the heat but Zoro's dumb and it's his fault. He's gonna stay in her room. Oh and we're not allowed in. But I said that already. Hey, Sanji, can you make a pie? A pirate pie. I really want one."

" _What?_ " spluttered Sanji again.

"Can you make a pie?" Luffy repeated. "I want it to have fruit in it but also meat."

"The algae is _where_ for _why_?" The temperature in the room began to rise as Sanji's tone shifted from horrified to incredulous.

Sweat began to drip down Usopp's forehead.

"Zoro's in Nami's room because-" Luffy began, but he was cut off as Sanji exploded from the door with a savage war cry. He finished in a quieter tone: "... he's in heat." Then turned to Usopp. "Do you think he's still going to make the pie?"

Usopp just made a strangled squeak in response.

Luffy shrugged and reached for the now unguarded breakfast. If Sanji had left, it had to be done, right?

**Author's Note:**

> (Nami and Zoro have not actually been in the room for hours. Luffy's perception of how long he's waited for breakfast is just skewed.)
> 
> Thank you for reading!
> 
> Any comments absolutely make my day and are used as writing fuel to go on to more stuff.
> 
> I do accept constructive criticism. There might be some typos or formatting errors since I write a lot directly from my phone at the moment. If anything disrupts your enjoyment of the fic, do let me know and I'll do my best to fix it.


End file.
